African countries that have direct access to the sea should emulate Japan in exploiting their vast maritime resources to bolster their economic progress, said IMO secretary-general Koji Sekimizu.
Speaking in Nairobi last week where he was attending Kenya's first National Maritime Conference,

The number of people directly employed by the European shipping industry increased by 25% between 2004 and 2013, a study has found.
Carried out on behalf of the European Communities Shipowners' Associations (ECSA) by Oxford Economics, the study found that the industry's directly employed workforce

NLC's Wasaline recorded a 5.2% rise in passenger numbers in 2014 to nearly 162,000, while freight, consisting of ro-ro and special cargo, went up 5%.
The company, which is in its second year of business, owns and operates Wasaline. Wasa Express, its only vessel, shuttles across the Bothnian Gulf's

Danish Ship Finance, the Copenhagen-based shipping bank, trebled its 2014 net profit as it was able to reverse impairment charges booked in previous years.
Group net profit reached DKK1.57 billion (USD232.5 million) in 2014 compared with DKK477 million a year earlier. "The profit, which was

India's state-run Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) said it would start ordering new ships, lifting a two-year freeze on acquisitions following a dismal financial performance in the last four years.
The enterprise said it plans to spend about USD130 million on buying ships, either second-hand or

Amarcon is to deliver SEEMP-compliant OCTOPUS-Onboard fuel monitoring systems for 12 Handysize bulkers being built by Yangzhou Guoyu Shipbuilding for Pioneer Marine (Singapore).
Due for delivery in 2015 and 2016, the 25,000 dwt Handysizes have a Green Dolphin design, intended to reduce fuel

The STX Offshore & Shipbuilding shipyard in Jinhae, South Korea, has announced the delivery of ro-ro container vessel Jolly Cobalto to Italian shipping company Ignazio Messina & Co.
The new vessel, claimed by Messina to be largest such vessel in the world, will be Italian-flagged and will make its

The European Commission (EC) has vowed to call on the IMO at a meeting in London tomorrow to pressure port authorities and flag states to more closely monitor their ship traffic for illegal migration.
Speaking at a large-scale rescues-at-sea workshop in Brussels yesterday, Charmaine Hili, policy

Disruptions at American West Coast docks over the past two months will take a heavy toll on US container trades in 2015, according to JOC-IHS economist Mario Moreno.
Moreno, speaking at JOC's 15th annual TPM conference in Long Beach, California, on 2 March, slashed his forecast for US containerised

Leading European shipbuilder Fincantieri saw profits drop sharply last year as difficulties in its offshore activities offset the recovery in its main cruise ship construction business.
Group profits for 2014 dropped from EUR85 million (USD95.48 million) in 2013 to EUR55 million last year, despite

Captain Andrey Voloshin wanted a hydrocarbon shipping safety revolution. He describes his journey to start one. IHS Maritime’s Girija Shettar reports As a Ukrainian former master mariner, Andrey Voloshin was in the best position to know what goes on aboard oil tankers, beyond the hype of annual reports claiming declining levels of accidents and incidents. … more

What can shipping learn from Costco, asks IHS Maritime’s Richard Clayton James Sinegal is not widely known in shipping circles, but as co-founder and former chief executive at Costco, the Washington state headquartered membership-only warehouse club, his thought leadership hits the spot time and again. I was reminded of his wisdom last week when I … more

IHS Maritime’s Girija Shettar recently attended an industry event where lawyers and human rights advocates reviewed the strategies needed to address abusive working situations faced by some seafarers. During a gathering of at the UK’s London Shipping Law Centre, four speakers, all former seafarers and three with Royal Navy backgrounds, were brought together to address … more

JOC chief content officer Peter Tirschwell looks at the dangers faced by the global container shipping sector The biggest threat to global container shipping is not protectionism or terrorism, says Moffatt & Nichol economist Walter Kemmsies. Instead, he picks out congestion at ports: a phenomenon building for years that hit the headlines only last year. … more